"I'm disappointed,'' Jones said after Saturday's workout at Camden Yards. "But I'm more disappointed in myself than anything. I didn't finish the way I wanted to finish, so I don't deserve to be on it. We need guys with a hot bat right now.''

Jones hit .244 with a .326 on-base percentage, a .535 slugging percentage and 11 homers in 127 at-bats in the first half -- including four home runs and six RBIs in the span of three games in Boston -- before dipping to .142/.256/.255 with three homers and 31 strikeouts in 106 at-bats. A sign he likely wouldn't be on the postseason roster came Sept. 29 when Girardi had Eduardo Nuñez, who will be on the postseason roster, at DH against Blue Jays lefty Ricky Romero.

Jones still could have been taken as an extra pinch-hitting option, but it appears as if the Yankees will go with Jayson Nix. The utility infielder was declared out for 10 to 14 days last weekend with a hip flexor injury, but Nix, whom Girardi is far more comfortable putting in the field in an emergency situation than the error-prone Nuñez, recovered much quicker than the original diagnosis. "I was really concerned,'' Nix said. "I didn't want to miss this opportunity. It's come around really well.''

As for Jones, he's still available. "It's up in the air,'' he said. "I'm here if somebody get hurts or they have to make a change in the second round.''

Not surprisingly, Girardi announced that Andy Pettitte, baseball's all-time leader in postseason wins with 19, will start Game 2 instead of Hiroki Kuroda, who will start Game 3 at the Stadium.

Girardi said his primary motivation for starting Pettitte in Game 2 is the amount of innings Kuroda threw this season, a career-high 2192/3. "We just felt that the extra rest would probably help him,'' he said.

Kuroda was 11-6 with a 2.72 ERA at the Stadium and 5-5 with a 4.23 ERA on the road. He called that a "coincidence'' but said of the extra rest, "It's better to have it than not have it.''

Rain games

One reason Girardi and Buck Showalter didn't want to commit to their 25-man rosters is the possibility of a rainout. The forecast as of Saturday night called for a 60 percent chance of rain all day and night Sunday. "If we have a rainout [Sunday night], then a lot of things change because we can resubmit a different roster provided we don't exchange lineup cards,'' Showalter said. Girardi added: "Weather could change things if all of a sudden you had to play five days in a row.''

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